This is what John Dirgo had to say on the other topic:
quote:
To anyone who may not know them (and I do), these are two of the most loving caring people I know. The ONLY reason that Andy would leave his wife on the ground like that was to get documentation of the abuse. Andy is a VERY caring man, and made the calculated decision to leave his wife in pain for a short period of time in order to protect her in the long run. A tough decision for him, I'm sure (knowing him) but unfortunately, probably the right one.
John Dirgo is a long time respected member of Punaweb.
msmoto is not mad at her husband (see other topic). I believe what they both wanted was for the police to come and there was some question as to whether helping her up would be effective, whether she would be able to stand, and I think they were worried the neighbor might get physical.
I doubt the husband could put the camera down because possibly the neighbor would have grabbed something and broken the camera with it.
My take is they were waiting for the police and the husband was having a hard time deciding what to do. At one point he asks can she get up, and then he sees the neighbor getting aggressive and tells her to stay down -- my take was stay down and out of his reach.
Do I think they made the best call for producing good documentation of the incident? No, I think the video doesn't serve them well because it doesn't show the incident that put her on the ground and the rest COULD be judged as staged by an impartial audience.
Why? Because if she is really hurting super bad that ought to be more important than documentation, and if she is not hurting that bad then she should stop crying out because it looks like she's playing it up for the camera. It's one of those can't have your cake and eat it too situations, IMHO. But when people are shocked and upset they don't think straight.
Did the woman on the ground choose to stay on the ground waiting for the police and to have her husband videotape the neighbor in case he did something violent? Yes, I think it was her choice. She said so. So not going to divorce husband.
ALL she asks him to do is check whether the police are really on their way. My question was why he didn't get on the cell phone and do that ... she didn't want him to leave her so the inference is he had his cell on him.
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I agree. While I don't at all think it was really a scam, but there is a lot more to what happened than what we saw & heard. AND... there was a lot of Drama going on. I agree with Kathy too, that the film is really not doing any good for their situation. Smart of them to remove it.
And, if my husband had acted like that I would have been really upset. Why did he not call the police as she asked? He could have still kept his video camera going. I am not saying he is a jerk, but I am saying that he appeared to only care about one thing, filming his neighbor. Maybe he knew that his wife was not seriously injured? Anyway, it is really sad that anyone has to resort to things like that because of nasty neighbors.
quote:
Originally posted by mdd7000
I have to agree with Barbara and dakine. There is more to this than we have read about here and seen on the video.
If I had ignored my wife like that, I would now be divorced. I also wondered why the guy went out there with a video camera to begin with?
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com
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Nope, you folks are wrong. Wife was down near the fence. Hubby would have brought both himself and wife to the attention of the ass hole had he gone to her aid and hubbys attention would be directed toward his wife not to the ass, while aiding his wife. This would have endangered both. By acting as he did, hubby kept the ass's attention away from wife until ass tired of his tirade and wandered off. For prosecuting, the video is an asset. It supplements the police report and any documented injuries (hopefully they were documented). As I recall from the video the ass states something to the effect "do you want some more?". That together with the victims statements and other evidence would be seen as an admission by the ass of the battery against the wife. Hubbys actions may put some people off at first but a decent attorney can explain hubbys action even better than I can and make the video the powerful evidence it is. The fence may look tacky but is adequately explained by the pictures of the damaged hogwire fence. I would insist on prosecurion and afterwards go civil. I think hubby did just fine for your average modern age gentle person, which I'm not. My outcome would have been different but less socially acceptable in Hawaii.
Quit insulting this lady's husband. Whether or not you totally buy my version, it should demonstrate that there is at least substantial doubt to the theory that hubby is yellow or callous as has been inferred. How about a little courtesy.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Good points, oink!
One hopes that any attorney playing it in court would repeat the segments where the neighbor is saying those awful things.
I do find it interesting that if Punaweb were a focus group for possible jury reaction that there is so much negativity towards the couple, especially the unseen husband. I did not feel that way myself but I saw the response when I shared the video.
Perhaps it is hard to feel sympathy for the husband we can't see him; he is just a disembodied voice pointing the camera.
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oddly enough, when confronted by a repeating intruder on to our land, through a second driveway many hundreds of feet from our home, when I was making a police report, I suggested that I would install a security camera so as to be able to document such intrusions in the future, I was told by the police that video taken by one party in such a case would not be admissible in court. how and if that would apply in this case I do not know. I was baffled as to why it wouldn't in my case, but didn't follow through with any research that would give me a answer one way or another. just a thought.
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dakine, I can't imagine why such a video wouldn't be admissible if the video was taken from the owners property and directed at the owners property. I can't see any expectation of privacy when you are trespassing. Although the police generally have good intentions and do their best, they don't always know the law as well as you might think. I had such an experience earlier today on an unrelated topic. I was a little pissed at the time but I'm over it now.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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The video was horrible, and I indicated in the previous thread that something didn't smell right.
The husband and wife were together when the maniac kicked the fence or knocked it down or whatever, and the husband went to get the video camera. Why didn't he take his wife with him? Why did he leave her there alone with this psycho? How bad was she hurt? We hear her asking about calling the cops, but do we ever actually hear him say he did?
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I think Raquel and Andy had been through their neighbor's antics so many times that no matter what, they were gonna get this thing on video while he was actively ranting. If you knew Andy and Raquel, you would understand that they are devoted to each other.
They explained earlier that they did have a nice fence up, but that no matter how much effort they put into it, their neighbor would come out when they weren't there and destroy it - ergo - the ugly fence.
Carrie Rojo
http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Barack Obama
Carrie Rojo
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
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Obviously the visuals got me.
There seems to be a consensus that something is missing interms of following up -- lets call this "neighbor disputes".
1. The police are effective when.... (fill in the blanks)
2. The police are NOT effective when... (fill in the blanks)
How do we make them effective? What tools do they need in terms of policy and procedure, education, community resources.
Being good people is one matter. That's a plus in any situation.
Having tools within the community to resolve persistent hostility between neighbors is more difficult. It seems from the discussions we don't have any. Yes, there's a trained, voluntary, mediation service, but having a police officer respond to multiple issues between neighbors with no resolution can be dangerous and it doesn't seem to resolve anything. At the least, after a second complaint, an officer should be able to issue a ticket requiring all parties to present themselves for mediation of the problem(s).
If one party is a no-show, they get fined real dollars.
The determination of the mediation board carries weight... not a 'nice pat on the head'.
The mediation board makes 'findings of fact' and passes them on to the court. And, if the same issue happens again, then a court date is set automatically with stiffer consequences.
If the answer to all of this is 'no can' because... then bring back the KAPU signs and skull and cross-bones signs posted on lots in the Acres. When I came to visit family 15 yrs ago, only a fool would ignore what they meant. But then, again, no one was grading pin to pin. No one had Donald Trump delusious, or if they did, they were swallowed up by the jungle.
a hui hou
You guys have a good point .... Very Jerry Springeresc ..
I would still say to take down that 'fence' and go knock on the guys door with a good bottle of something.
People who are that passionate also have an easily flip flopped opposite side switch.
A couple,, f-yous ! .... no you F-YOUs !!! laughs @ the whole thing could settle things forever.
My .02 from dealing with rednecks my whole life, takes one to know one kine ....
aloha,
pog
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